Signs of a better future give a new direction and hope

There is a gradual diffusion of a spirit of world solidarity arising spontaneously out of our disorganised and seemingly disintegrating society. It is fueled by the fundamental principle of the oneness of humanity and whatever the country, politics, religion, culture, gender or even age-old customs signs of this solidarity are emerging around the world.  It is worth examining these signs and understanding each of their implications. However, even more, important is their interactions because although each is powerful in their own right as they begin to show evidence of synchronicity their impact will grow exponentially.  At a time when despair is rampant and disunity strident these signs of a better future give a new direction and hope.

1. World Citizenship -  What is it? A global citizen is someone who is aware of and understands the wider world - and their place in it. What does it mean? They take an active role in their community and work with others to make our planet more equal, fair and sustainable.

This kind of citizen forms their own understanding of world events.

They reflect on their values and what's important to them.

Having reflected they take the important step of acting in the real world around them.

They are ready and prepared to challenge ignorance and intolerance in society.

Their involvement in local, national and global communities means they help shape a wider society than just their family.

They can consult with others, voice their own opinions while also listening to others.

They are convinced they have the power to act and influence the world around them.

“All of Creation is related.
And the hurt of one is the hurt of all.
And the honour of one is the honour of all.
And whatever we do affects everything in the universe.”

Passed down from White Buffalo Calf Woman

    2.  Environmental Awareness – What is it?  Environmental awareness is an ideology that evokes the necessity and responsibility of humans to respect, protect, and preserve the natural world. What does it entail? It involves working for environmental protection and improvement of the health of the environment. It requires an understanding of how the global earth system works and how the impact of major changes on that environment impacts on the health of humans, animals, plants and even the quality of our air, water and soil.

“Treat the earth well: 

it was not given to you by your parents, 

it was loaned to you by your children. 

We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, 

we borrow it from our Children.”

 – Tribe Unknown

3.     Promotion of public health – What is it? It means building a better, healthier future for people all over the world.  It will mean working across all countries to contribute to achieving better health for everyone, everywhere. How is it achieved?  It means working together worldwide, as never before, striving to combat diseases – communicable diseases like influenza and HIV, and noncommunicable diseases like cancer and heart disease.  It will result in mothers and children not only surviving but thriving so they can look forward to a healthy old age. Ensuring the safety of the air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink – and the medicines and vaccines we may need. 

One example of what can be achieved by a unified public health initiative is smallpox. It was declared eradicated in 1980 following a global immunization campaign led by the World Health Organization. Smallpox is transmitted from person to person via infective droplets during close contact with infected symptomatic people. Because of its highly infectious nature, smallpox was a devastating disease which killed a third of those it infected.  It was wiped off the face of the earth through vaccination carried out in a global campaign. We must not forget that an estimated 300 million people died from smallpox in the 20th century alone.  This was no small accomplishment.

Smallpox is not the only success. Rinderpest, a disease of livestock, has also been eradicated. This worldwide approach is now targeting more diseases with the same objective (poliomyelitis, yaws, dracunculiasis and malaria).  Knowing that such campaigns, which rely on cooperation across the face of the planet, can be such game-changers is a bright light in a dark world.

“We will be known forever by the tracks we leave.” 

– Dakota

     4.  Concern for human rights - Historians are strangely in agreement that one of the great achievements of the twentieth century was the establishment of global standards for human rights along with international machinery to monitor human rights violations, to encourage compliance by governments with these standards, and to ensure that there is no safe haven for criminals who commit the gravest atrocities against their fellow human beings. The linchpins of this system are the U.N. Charter, adopted on June 26, 1945, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the U.N. General Assembly on December 10, 1948. The Universal Declaration affirms in its preamble that it is intended to serve as a “common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations.” Before the adoption of the U.N. Charter and the Universal Declaration governments had been tentative in recognizing that all human beings have certain inalienable rights; instead, the rights of individuals were viewed as primarily a domestic concern.

But these achievements, although steps forward, are not without limitations. Perhaps the most important drawback of the current system is how ineffective it has been in providing relief to human rights victims – and preventing them from becoming victims in the first place. The horrific truth is that every day countless human beings suffer gross human rights violations.  It highlights the fact that even worldwide charters and declarations shorn of sufficient power to implement protection of human rights will not suffice.

“For is it not your clear duty to restrain the tyranny of the oppressor, and to deal equitably with your subjects, that your high sense of justice may be fully demonstrated to all mankind? God hath committed into your hands the reins of the government of the people, that ye may rule with justice over them, safeguard the rights of the down-trodden, and punish the wrong-doers.”

Bahá'í writings

      5. Universal Education – What does it mean? It seeks to ensure that all have equal access to education, regardless of their social class, gender, ethnicity background or physical and mental disabilities.  Progress has been made on this goal however universal primary education has been a major problem for developing states as they do not have sufficient financial resources to build schools, provide books and other materials, and recruit, train, and pay teachers. The Sub-Saharan African region is the most affected region as 32 million African children are still uneducated. However, commentators noted that universal access to education remains an attainable goal by 2030. It is heartening to know this important goal, with long term dividends for us all and subsequent generations can be achieved.

“In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.”

- Iroquois Maxim (circa 1700-1800)

          6.   Interfaith Activities - Means cooperative, constructive, and positive interaction between people of different religious traditions, spiritual or humanistic beliefs, at both the individual and institutional levels.  One early example of this was The Parliament of Religions opened on 11 September 1893 in Chicago.  It included Faiths such as Jain, Zen, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Bahá'í Faith among others.  Despite these efforts to break down barriers between religions just over two decades later World 1 would break out.  Along with the subsequent loss of life moral standards were severely challenged by the atrocities perpetrated under the veil of warfare.  If spiritual living is about trying to raise standards of behaviour both in personal life and community living, war seems ever to degrade the nobility of humanity.  

   Often religious prejudices can fuel the differences between people, across nations and inflame intolerance.  Interfaith education in schools has proven highly effective in engendering respect for all religions (and for those with none) and if carried out properly can inoculate a growing generation against the infection of “otherness” that permits injustice to be perpetrated.

"There will be no peace among the nations without peace among the religions. There will be no peace among the religions without dialogue among the religions"

Hans Küng, a Professor of Ecumenical Theology and President of the Global Ethic Foundation. 

7.  Social Activities in localities -  There is a toxic mindset that incapacitates positive tackling of problems facing local communities.  Partly, it proceeds for the erroneous idea that change should only happen from the top down.  Governments, politicians, rulers, leaders of industry/finance/social services etc. are delegated responsibility which bypasses the individual initiative that could take action.  It was not always so.  

   Community living, especially in villages, used to be much more proactive.  In such close-knit communities’ personal connections meant the vulnerable were cared for, issues facing the community were discussed and tackled with greater or less success.  In a modern increasingly isolated way of life more young, old, ill are falling through the gaps of overstretched government services.  Thankfully, for most people, there is still a mental memory of a different way of living from a generation or so ago.  When individuals are not just allowed but encouraged to play their role in service to their local community a new mindset emerges.  Such empowerment can even be lifesaving.  It also inspires others to follow suit.

      It is important to recognize an unhealthy self-obsessed mindset is as unhealthy to each individual as it is to the society around them.  This habit of service to others is a recipe for a healthier citizen.  Every individual, and more specifically the junior youth, when encouraged into acts of service to their local community find their place both physically and mentally in a distracted materialistic world.  More importantly, they find they can, impact positively to make real changes to the community around them.  Instead of being caught up in the negative forces junior youth literally find their footing in service and are transformed.

Local efforts in the area of development seek to promote social and material well-being of people of all walks of life, whatever their beliefs or background. Such endeavours are motivated by the desire to serve humanity and contribute to constructive social change. Together they represent a growing process of learning concerned with the application of action along with knowledge accumulated in different fields of human endeavour, to social reality. Social action can be consolidated by the conviction that every population has the right and responsibility to mark out the path of its own progress. Indeed, every people and nation has to have a vital contribution to make in constructing a new society characterized by principles such as harmony, justice, and prosperity.

“And the honour and distinction of the individual consist in this, that he among all the world’s multitudes should become a source of social good. Is any larger bounty conceivable than this, that an individual, looking within himself, should find that by the confirming grace of God he has become the cause of peace and well-being, of happiness and advantage to his fellow men? No, by the one true God, there is no greater bliss, no more complete delight. . ..”

Bahá'í writings

To be part of this wholesome transformation that is reflective of the oneness of humanity it is useful to contemplate your beginning, your life, your end and what you want your legacy will be. This American Indian saying nicely captures it.

When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice. – Cherokee

Education, diamond cutting or sausage filling?

When I was in primary school our tiny village school in the heart of the Sperrin Mountains (N. Ireland) was visited by two trainee teachers. They were full of new ideas including dividing up the class into groups and targeting us with topical questions. This was heady new material in the days of the 1970s. Especially, given our normal teacher, an aged limping man, who insisted on teaching us in the old currency (which included crowns and farthings! ). 

tea clipper

He was the son of a pilot of a tea clipper (a very fast sailing ship of the middle third of the 19th century) and started every day by reading biblical passages threatening brimstone and hell. Not used to the excitement of actually being asked to contribute, I'm afraid it all went to my head. The question was asked if girls should be educated separately from the boys, I stood up and announced that it would be akin to separating the cream from the milk. Not sure what I meant, one of the student teachers asked for clarification. I didn't hesitate to point out that separating the girls would mean taking away the best brains in the room.  This brought an enraged response from our old teacher who spluttered his rage and ended our first topical debate.  

In my teens, I attended a course of St John's ambulance service. They instructed us in how to prevent someone choking with the Heimlich manoeuvre. They showed how somebody could be resuscitated. If they had a heart attack they demonstrated how the heart could occasionally be restarted and how breathing for them could be maintained to avoid brain damage.  This actually seemed useful stuff!  It was one of those Road to Damascus experiences.  I remember thinking that all the education I'd had up to that point was a total waste of time. Years and years of fractions and factorial functions, history of Columbus and Hitler. Geography of the valleys, mountains and oxbow lakes all of it seemed completely pointless. Was education really all this crap? Was everything we learned entirely for the purpose of passing an end of year exam?  How did fairly intelligent people stand in front of the classroom and convey such a rubbish year after year without questioning the whole rotten system?   What on earth was the purpose of it all?

Years later when I worked at University I was reminded of the pitfalls of our education system. Here, in this university was supposed to be ‘the best of the best’. The cream of society, its thickest and richest. I found them devoid of real interest or real intelligence. Whatever our present educational system does, it certainly results in inoculating almost the entire population against any future education.

Don’t think you can avoid it all by home teaching or buying ridiculously expensive private schooling.  In my experience such children are usually academically brilliant but socially deformed.  They can have the most idillic childhoods but then are released into the real world.  The shock is traumatic and sometimes never recovered from.  The difference between what we would choose for our children and the playground dynamics that they often have to face are light years apart.  We would not wish it on our worst enemies but our children must weather such storms on a daily basis.   After all, workplaces are just playgrounds for adults and equally taxing.  If you missed the school bully don’t worry you will encounter them in your employment sooner or later.  

I wish it were not so.  I wish education was about finding the gems that lie hidden within us all.  Mining for those treasures that each individual uniquely possesses.  Crafting such gems into sparkling jewels that illuminate humanity.  Such delicate faceting of planes within crystals to catch the light and reflect more light is an art that is far cry from today’s sausage filling education system.  My grandfather used to call sausages, 'mystery packages' for all the wrong reasons.  He was a pig farmer after all and knew what he was talking about.  I feel the same about today's educational systems - they are not fit for purpose.

Lying in Style

Was with a small group of junior youth (10 to 13 year olds) at a day camp here in Malta. My role was purely supervision. They had been given a task which they had 45 minutes to complete. All the teams where handed a sheet of information which they had to prepare a presentation on. At the end of the 45 minutes they would all have to present what they had learnt to the plenarily session. It helped we were all outside seated at a park in the sun working at a table.  Another big help was the A2 coloured sheets of cardboard, Sellotape, glue, colourful pens etc. What was an issue was our particular topic, wind erosion. Nearly all of them had already covered this topic at school and were reluctant to become involved with it again.  As they spoke about their school, their total boredom with the educational process leeched into the atmosphere. When I asked them to get started, one covered an area of the cardboard with glue and poured a handful of soil onto the sticky surface. Determined to be encouraging I praised this initiative and asked how they could show it blowing in the wind?  Immediately, a small girl starting work with large arrows but was restrained by the rest, "Do it in pencil, In case you make a mistake”, they said. She drew arrows in light pencil checking with her peers as to size and position. 

My heart sank. What is it about our systems that they kill creativity but bolster self-doubt and and the need to avoid criticism at all costs. The group was concerned that too much space had already been used up by the soil and arrows. “How would they get the rest of the information on the page”. This was combined with various cries of “No way, am I saying anything during the presentation”! The only heated discussion was on who would claim the role of holding the poster. That obviously was a nonspeaking role and much sought after. Since, the wind erosion affected rocks, I suggested perhaps we could include this on the poster I lifted a large pebble and put it on the corner of the poster. The group was horrified. It's far too big!” Followed by, “It'll never stick!” One courageous soul got going with masses of Sellotape and the rest grabbed their own stones and got sticking. Glue turned out to be useless, but by means of half of a roll of Sellotape all succeeded in placing their own rocks. They insisted on checking stability by holding the poster up right and doubling Sellotape on a pebble which showed signs of movement. Water waves erosion of sea arches was captured in a series of five pictures beginning with an arch and ending with two solitary pillars pointing skyward. Rain and it's effects was beautifully drawn in intricate coloured tear drops of rain falling abundantly above a stuck on pebble. 

It reminded me of how I used to spend ages colouring in the sea in history maps for homework. On one on the Spanish Armada I had had tiny blue lines extending out around the entire European coastline.  I cannot remember a single historical fact about the Armada but I recall with pleasure the intricate blue lines faning out from Cornwall in the south to the Hebrides in the north. It took me hours and my history teacher was not over enthusiastic about my efforts. So, when critics began complaining about how many raindrops the girl had drawn, I countered with ample enthusiasm for more! She purred purred in delight and did 10 more of the multicoloured drops. 

We were left with all the knowledge in diagram form but no words. An entire 30 minutes had already passed and there was now growing rebellion about speaking in public. They all looked at the poster's assortment of sketches, stones, arrows and soil. At one point tiny branches of trees had been added to the sides by someone unable to find an appropriately sized pebble. I could see why they were doubting their creation and dreading the public humiliation of having to show it to the wider group.  

I advised them to take one fact each and talk on that. That way each person would only have one sentence to say in public. They reluctantly agreed that this might make it easier. They had a diagram to point to for each fact so that would also help.  There were many doubtful looks at each other. Obviously, they figured their poster would be more confusing than helpful. I pointed out that half the difficulty in explaining the different processes involved was the stupid names given in the text. 

“How about each of you rename them and when you explain to the group use your name instead of the technical terms.”  

There was shocked looks around as if I'd asked them to lie in public. “You mean just make them up!” One shouted. 

“Sure as long as you know what it means, what odds what you call it? You're more likely to remember your own chosen name for the things anyway.” I added. 

This was greeted with howls of laughter and delight. They all came up with ridiculous names.  Wind blowing soil and sand across the landscape was renamed Wind-oh!  (pronounced wind dash oh). Rain water falling into cracks in stones was called H2O Sponge formation. Water freezing in the cracks as ice and causes bigger cracks was renamed Aquacracking. And so it went on. Strangely knowing that they could use their own 'made up' names, all were eager to present their idea. The deliciousness of falsehood in public was heady. So pleased were they with their new terminology they decided to end with a quiz to test if the audience could remember the new words. 

The young presenters had a field day. Each spouting on about about their names. Getting the audience to pronounce it properly. Spelling it aloud so everyone could appreciate it’s cleverness. During the quiz the entire audience remembered each term perfectly, the team was ecstatic! In triumph, they stormed off. One concerned whistleblower stayed and warned the audience that all these terms had been made up. That they didn't actually exist. Just in case someone used them in school. 

“You mean all of them!”  One boy in the front row asked in despair. None of the adults there noticed or questioned the strange terminology. We have long grown accustomed to new terminology and are willing to swallow it down wholesale. 

But it struck me that isn't that what most education is about?  The memorisation of facts and terms and the regurgitation of the same in tests. Knowledge of these code words means passing and ignorance of them failing. Isn't it mostly a complete waste of time that just sucks creativity out of every topic. Education becomes fence jumping, teaching entails training the horses to jump higher and faster over a known obstacle course. Those who mastered this useless skill are called the intelligent among us and go on to further education. More advanced fence jumping takes place. Astute at swallowing terminology wholesale, with excellent memories and obedient regurgitators when faced with the end of term exams. They used to say only the cream of the cream get to university 'the rich and the thick'. Now I have begun to question everything we commonly accept as education. When did we think the information conveyed mattered more than the purveyor or the recipient? Exactly what do we celebrate on their graduation? My son and nephew refused to go to their graduations. At the time, I resented not having the ceremony, the photographs the shared celebration. But, in hindsight, I reckon it was a statement about how little any of that actually meant. Three years of what exactly? The brains that emerge from many of our educational systems are stultified by its regime. Somewhere, along the way they lose that most vital of all things. The passion for truth and discovery. Jaded and unsatisfied they become excellent folder for this world. Hungry for things to buy to fill the void.  We have forgotten that when a horse gallops it does so instinctively, it was born to run free across its landscape. Perhaps, we have forgotten the purpose of education.  If our system converts curiosity into apathy we must ask how can we recapture the joy of learning?  

Hounded to death by the corrupt - Aaron Swartz a warning to future coders

The government has decided to re-haul our education system and as well as banning a lot of US authors from the English syllabus (what the hell?) they have also decreed that all school kids should be able to write computer code.  This, of course, is in the hope that, like Estonia, a bunch of these youngsters will come up with something like Skype and bring riches to the nation’s coffers.  Their present attempts to get their hands on the pensions of so many workers (See http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2326105/Teachers-NHS-staff-pension-income-slashed-third.html) continues unabated but such tinkering with the education system has not a good history.  Educational reforms usually end badly.  Throwing away phonetics eventually spelt illiteracy (forgive my pun), not requiring times tables left innumeracy in its wake.  So what about code writing?  Would creating a generation of programming geniuses end well? 

Jonathan James was an exceptional programmer and became a hacker.  He was caught up in a raid by the US secret service involved in an identity theft scam of TJX.  It is unsure if he had any involvement but probably, some of his older acquaintances did.  Being raided was a big thing, as was the threat of prosecution.  Suddenly, the cool skills he’d cultivated got him in deep trouble.  It seems, behind a console, hackers like so many of us, feel that the boundaries between make believe and real life blur.  Most of us would never dream of stealing but a high percentage of us will happily download a favourite series/film and feel secretly smug and not as guilty as we should.  This weird virtual world of the web has its own laws but the general public has yet to register that this ‘anything goes’ frontier has no go areas.  Downloading the wrong images can lead to imprisonment at a time when most of the public has a naïve attitude to kids and friends using their computers, fail to install effective firewalls and have loads of unsolicited files on their hard drives they are totally unaware of.

Back to Jonathan, two weeks after that raid by the secret service, he took his own life and left a suicide note which read,

“I honestly, honestly had nothing to do with TJX.  I have no faith in the justice system.  Perhaps my actions today will send a stronger message to the public.  Either way, I have lost control over this situation and this is my only way to gain control.”

Of course Massachusetts Assistant US Attorney Stephan Heyman, who pursued Jonathan, was also the one who hounded Aaron Swartz until he too took his own life on Jan 11 in 2013.

Aaron, like Jonathan, was a technological genius.  At the age of 14 he authored the RSS web syndication, at 19 he co programmed the social news and entertainment website Reddit.  He founded Demand Progress, a group advocating against Internet censorship bills.  By the age of 24, Swartz was a Harvard research fellow conducting studies on political corruption.  One colleague spoke of Aaron’s motivation,

“What kind of millionaire founder of a tech website chooses to spend time sitting in a congressional office (as Aaron did) to really understand the work flow?  No one.  That doesn't happen.  He was a basic technocratic liberal who thought that if you worked really hard and approached a problem with openness and curiosity, then it was possible you could make life better for people.”

It was in pursuance of that goal that he downloaded academic journals from a JSTOR database in MIT.  This crime, and it is undoubtedly a crime, did not justify the 35 years and 1 million dollar fine that the US Attorney Stephen Heyman sought.

Aaron Swartz once he knew imprisonment was inevitable took his own life.  To be frank MIT/JSTOR are left tainted along with the US Justice system.  Another young coder dead, at the hands of a system that needs honest self-examination.  As long as governments enthuse about the possibility of young coders they should also be honest about the deadly big stick awaiting brilliant nerds that step out of line.  The ‘over the top’ reaction becomes even more obscene when one realises, in hindsight, that these institutions are often frighteningly more corrupt than those they hound to death. http://www.boston.com/news/politics/gallery/massachusetts_indicted_politicians/

Dad - A Real Teacher

Was talking on Skype to my uncle in New Zealand and the topic of my dad came up.  It has been over nine years since he died but he is alive in memories and conversations with loved ones.  My uncle reminded me of a holiday in Cranfield when he was just a boy and my father took him with others to examine a bag of cigarettes washed up on the shore.  My father told them all that there was a chance that people were on the look out with guns for this smuggled hoard so their race to the beach was filled with danger.  My uncle remembers the excitement and thrill of the escapade and how Dad turned the whole affair into a huge adventure for them all.  

My brother remembers how one night when he went round to my Dad’s school in Dungiven and in the darkness opened the front door and went down a long corridor.  Empty school corridors at night are spooky, you almost hear the voices of non-existent pupils echoing from classrooms over the squeak of your shoes on the shiny tiles.  Suddenly, at the end of the corridor in the darkest part someone opened fire with a gun and my brother ran for his life while the flashes of gunfire lit up the corridor.  It was of course my dad who had let fire with a sports starting pistol to see what my brother would do.  

It was never boring with my dad around.  He could make every event into an adventure and fun.  Even a walk in the fields turned into a geological field trip, or a visit to a castle, a lesson on history.  Always informing and educating he could not stop probing your intellect pushing you to find out and want more.

In Dungiven in the 1970s there was a divide between Catholics and Protestants and yet he was a voice of reason even then.  It was not popular and I was struck by how ahead of his time, in so many ways, he was.  In the tiny secondary school in the Sperrins he taught children about Geography so well that all could identify every country on a world map.  The only test was who was the fastest as they raced to the board and labelled the world map drawn there. He loved world maps and bought the biggest and best he could.  I get flashbacks every time I talk on skype with my son and see over his shoulder a huge world map on his wall.  This desire for maps must be genetic!  He also taught the children high in the Sperrins isolated from even NI about all the world religions Buddhist, Hindu, Islam, Baha'i, Christianity, Judaism etc Even now forty years later our religious education has not caught up with his wide ranging insights on world religions.

My son found a newspaper article (from over thirty years ago) in which my Dad speaks of his educational philosophy and it resonates still, even fifty years after he practised it in Canada, Australia and Northern Ireland.  It gives me a fragrance of this lovely man who chose the path less travelled.  Here are two excerpts in his own words.

“A relatively small number of teachers of the right calibre could create a school society in which pupils could progress to greater awareness of the world about them, their cultural heritage and a knowledge of their real selves.  Unfortunately, the false values of contemporary society have been allowed to dictate priorities in education.”

“For me the ideal person is the man from Nazareth who lived in a society very much like our own and Who in the midst of all that hatred could say: ‘Love your enemies and do good to those that hate you.’  One thing for sure is He did not learn that from the teacher in the synagogue school.”